fate alias - at another time, in another place
by pwnismaximus
Summary: Kise wants to live. So does Uryu. But in the War, they have to kill for it. The varied stories and ethics of heroes interweave, intertwine, and knot themselves just as the pieces of a massive, disjointed mystery unravels. The War forces its participants to explore, fight, and try to understand other worlds. Fighting. Exploring. Kicking ass. One-liners. Also, a lot of talking.
1. A Train Ride

As soon as Kise entered the train car, he plopped himself onto the empty seats, sprawling out like a starfish with its face towards the ceiling. He gasped for air, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead and into his jersey. One loose arm drooped until it was brushing the floor; the other pressed itself against the seats in search of stretch room. If anyone could look in through the tinted car windows, they would think he was dying.

"You aren't dying, Ryota-san," said Uryu. Stepping in, he made sure the door slid shut behind him before sitting down. Even then, Uryu took a sigh of relief when they started moving: he had booked this particular train car a week in advance with the last of his part-time earnings, so he sure as hell wasn't letting anyone else in now. Surviving was more important than winning to him; a person only has one life, after all.

Uryu dropped his bag beside him, which landed with a muted thump against the wooden floor. The compartment car was fairly small, he noted, with a single square window framed by plaid curtains and only two seats, maroon like the walls and just long enough to splay out on. Though fairly cramped, it was the best he could afford. Relaxing, Uryu extended his legs a little from the seat, but only that – any further and he would kick Kise's head. Across from Uryu, the blonde was starting to regain lung functionality. Despite his normally good stamina, Kise had trouble pulling himself back to a sitting position.

He spoke first. "That... was a hollow? You said not to worry about them, Uryucchi!"

"I meant it; I just didn't expect an attack so soon," said Uryu, wincing at both his carelessness and his new nickname. "He wasn't very tough, but fighting with bystanders is pretty difficult. I hope you're alright?"

"Yeah," said Kise, between ragged breaths. He pulled at his collar, trying to cool down; it was chilly in here, but he didn't mind. "Yeah, I'm fine. Even though you told me hollows were evil spirits, I really wasn't expecting a giant, mostly invisible monster. I thought it would be... more creepy and less straightforward-murder, y'know." He grinned sheepishly. "I did get a couple clutch dodges in there though."

"Yes, quite fast at running away too. I could tell you were an athlete," remarked Uryu, adjusting his glasses.

"Agh, you saw like, the most uncool side of me right after we met!" By now, the train had picked up its full speed, and both Kise and Uryu had to brace themselves against the acceleration. "If we have spare time," Kise said, straightening, "I'll show you the ropes in basketball like Kurokocchi showed me. Then we'll get to know each other better as a team, and I'll redeem myself a bit."

Uryu nodded, betraying a small smile. "That sounds fine, actually. As long as the court is indoors and nobody in the War can corner us, it'd be a good opportunity to work out cooperative dynamics in a low-risk, yet high-stress environment." Uryu paused, as if remembering something. Then he unclasped the bag beside him, rifled through its contents, and produced a large white binder. He held it up, turning it so Kise could have a better view. "On the topic of the War," he said, "I'll need you to read this."

Impressed but somewhat intimidated, Kise hefted the binder to eye-level. Scrutinizing it suspiciously, he read the cover text aloud: " _The Holy Grail War_. Subtitled, _What We Know So Far_." Kise whistled as he leafed through the pages. "Wow! How did you find out so much in just two days?"

"It's nothing big. I just asked a favor from Urahara-san. Got most of the information from him."

"Urahara-san? Does he have experience in Holy Grail Wars?" inquired Kise, hopeful.

"Unfortunately not... even he has no idea why these portals started showing up. They're very useful for getting from your universe to mine," said Uryu, "like this morning, but frankly it's something unprecedented in Soul Society history. The only thing we've seen like it is the Garganta, but those are on a much smaller scale."

Kise leaned back again, disappointed. Letting out a deflated sigh, he turned his head, leaning an arm on the far side of his seat to peer into the pastel evening sky. The grey clouds overhead, thin and wispy, scattered the brilliant glow through their half-shuttered window. Its tinted one-way glass let in a patch of slanted light, angled more and more harshly as the sun seemed to escape behind them. Still looking away, and with his hair made golden by illumination, the words came slowly: "I don't really get what's going on."

They stayed still for a moment, just listening to the rumble of the rails beneath them. Then Uryu spoke.

"As an evil spirit exterminator to a basketball player, neither do I." Uryu bent forward, clasping his hands together, considering his words. "Still, if we look at the info in that binder," he said, jabbing his index finger onto the plastic cover, "and look at patterns in the past, we might be able to learn something. As far as I know, it's like a basketball game, of sorts... except we don't know how many players there are, how the other teams play, or what exactly the rules are. But there are rules," he said. "There have to be rules."

From his seat across from Uryu, Kise shook his head. "It... doesn't sound like a game at all, Uryucchi."

"I'm glad I have a Master that's reluctant to kill other people – that's the opposite of what a Quincy is supposed to do – but we're stuck here. Neither of us wanted to get strung up in this War, least of all me, but the matter of fact is, it _will_ continue whether we play or not." Uryu's voice shook at these words, as if reluctant to go on. He followed Kise's eyes through the window, trying to think of something else to say, until, suddenly, he jerked upright.

"What happened?" urged Kise. His full attention was on Uryu now.

"I feel someone's spiritual pressure. From outside the car."

There was little time to process anything further. In an instant, Uryu saw a flash of blue light – heard something resembling a soft footstep at the car roof. Then, the tail carriage of the Yamato Express line from Karakura to Heisei erupted into a column of flames and fell, with its only two passengers, into the sea.

* * *

 **Ishida Uryu**

 _Archer-class_. Also qualifies for Caster.

 _Master_ : Kise Ryota

 _Parameters_ :

STR/END/AGI/MAN/LUK/NP

D/ C/ C/ B/ D/ ?


	2. A Sinking Feeling

Kise never found swim team to be particularly difficult. After a while of watching and a shorter while of practice, he outclassed his peers in front crawl, sidestroke, and butterfly competitions, bringing their middle school team to semi-finals without effort. His teammates cheered him on, but outside of victory he always felt alienated, as if he had cheated for his medal - as if he had cheated them out of their medals. Still, at that time he had some hope for it, going through the exercises, the pep talks, the drills. Then he quit, like his other ventures into sports before basketball.

He found swim team utterly boring. It was too easy, he thought, to learn how to "run" in water. All you needed to do was watch very closely how the others did it; observe how the muscles moved, contorted, and contracted with each stroke of the arm, each cycle of the legs, and just do it. So when he felt that stinging absence of a challenge again, he quit.

Right now, Kise regretted it.

Plunging one-hundred feet in a stark drop from the railway to the ocean, he wished he stayed in swim and dive for just a while longer.

When he hit the water, Kise didn't hear his bones crack. When the bracky seawater flooded his lungs and stomach, the thought of dying simply didn't occur to him. Instead, even while descending further and further into the depths, his head flooded with thoughts about surviving what must be coming next.

 _If_ , he thought, his sight already blurring, _if these assassins Uryu worried about see us surface, they'll make sure we're dead. Shoot us, maybe._ He watched a piece of the train's smoldering carcass sink beside him, bubbling with pockets of caught superheated gas that left a trail to up above. It was far from dark, Kise realized. He actually felt oddly light: whether it was the cool water on his burnt skin, the bright rays of sun refracting onto his face, or the lack of oxygen getting to him, he couldn't tell.

It came back to him, what he learned in middle school; but even as Kise told himself to exhale and relax his diaphragm, his brain seemed to refuse, insisting to hold onto every milliliter of air. For a moment, he went limp. For a moment he suddenly felt relaxed. Then the thoughts came rushing back.

 _I... I don't want to lose here._ The surface was so far away now. _I can't... I have to_... _my breath..._ If he went up now, he would be shot - guaranteed - and it would all be over. Kise waved a limp arm, wading a bit deeper. If he was deeper, he had a chance, however slim, of surviving. It just depended on how long he could endure. Another minute... no, another twenty seconds! Even another 5 seconds and everything would be alright. He'd get back to Uryu and show off some flashy moves. He'd get back to Kasamatsu-senpai and the others so they could beat Seirin together, and he'd bring the Cup to his parents, and...

His lungs were screaming. Everything - the burning in his chest; the spasms of his larynx, trying to force out water; the incessant pounding of his heart - told him to exhale and inhale again.

Kise clutched weakly at his mouth, physically trying to prevent his breath from escaping. But nothing was coming out.

An arm cut through the seawater, and suddenly two people broke the surface. It was Uryu's turn to gasp for air this time.

"You..." he began, coughing out water. Uryu, drenched and heaving, braced the body against his forearm, half-floating and half-holding. "You idiot! I'm... not a Soul Reaper! We Quincies can only protect what's alive. Once you're dead... when you're dead, it's all over for us." Uryu threw back his head, grimacing at the clouds. "Don't... do that again."

* * *

Uryu had no idea who had sabotaged the train. He had no idea where they had went. But, as he ran to shore - on air rather than water, solidifying spirit particles beneath his feet - with Kise over his shoulder, he expected to be shot in the back. Uryu tensed, hoping the shield of spiritual energy he had used during the initial attack could weaken the next blow. Nothing came.

Even hundreds of meters further, he wondered just what kind of assassin would vanish without checking their mark. Was it a mistake? Was delaying them the intention? Was someone else aboard the train the target? Or... perhaps the assassin hadn't meant to kill them at all?

None of the options seemed right to him. In a war, killing was much easier than the alternative. In _this_ War, murder was the most efficient path the victory. Uryu worked through the possibilities one by one, looking at each piece of evidence he could recall. The spark, the footstep, the sudden appearance of spiritual energy: it all seemed so calculated. But no follow-up.

Why?

* * *

 **Kise Ryota**

 _Master_ of Archer-class Uryu Ishida

 _Talents_ : Copying witnessed techniques from others, singing karaoke

 _Likes_ : Basketball, fun obstacles, impressing others

 _Dislikes_ : Boredom, unagi, insincerity


End file.
